Voters who sell their votes cannot, as a whole, be dismissed as mere “bobotante,” a professor of the Ateneo de Manila University said Monday citing a study by the Institute of Philippine Culture (IPC).

The IPC study found that citizens sold their votes because the believed that the compensation they received was either: biyaya or grace, rightful money, earned money, accessible money, and dead money.

Claudio said voters who received “biyaya” felt beholden to the candidate and they are inclined to pay the gift back in some way.

In rightful money, voters perceived the money they received as something owed them because the government failed to provide them services. They can also see this merely as the money they paid in taxes coming back to them.

Voters think of earned money, meanwhile, as the fruits of their labor by campaigning and volunteering for a certain candidate. Accessible money is just easy money for people brought into campaign rallies dubbed as “hakot” supporters.

Claudio added that their study found that the poor vote was a thinking vote, even as the poor are aware that they are engaged in vote buying and vote selling.

The IPC classified four kinds of poverty in choosing the respondents of the their research. They spoke to urban poor in Quezon City, rural poor in Camarines Sur, conflict poor in Zamboanga, angd disaster poor in Tacloban City.

Claudio added that most respondents were beneficiaries of the government's Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

The Ateneo study found that the respondents in all the categories would chose a candidate based on the candidate's principles and concern for the poor. —Joseph Tristan Roxas/DVM, GMA News